Topeka man subject to paying child support after sperm donation

Kansas – A Shawnee County District Court judge ruled on Wednesday that a Topeka man who donated sperm to a lesbian couple is subject to paying child support. As reported by The Topeka Capital-Journal, District Court Judge Mary determined that because William Marotta and the couple did not to obtain the services of a physician during the process of artificial insemination, Kansas did not entitle him to protections afforded to other sperm donors.

Mattivi is quoted as writing in her decision, “Kansas law is clear that a ‘donor of semen provided to a licensed physician for use in artificial insemination of a woman other than the donor’s wife is treated in law as if he were not the birth father of a child thereby conceived, unless agreed to in writing by the donor and the woman.”

Marotta, who was seeking to bar paternity for the 4-year-old girl whom the Kansas Department for Children and Families says he owes child support to, argued that he had only been a sperm donor to the same-sex couple who wanted a child.

Mattivi is further quoted as writing of the matter, “In this case, quite simply, the parties failed to conform to the statutory requirements of the Kansas Parentage Act in not enlisting a licensed physician at some point in the artificial insemination process, and the parties’ self-designation of (Marotta) as a sperm donor is insufficient to relieve (Marotta) of parental rights and responsibilities.”